For Howard Rosenstein, the Facebook posts started one freezing February morning in 2013. Somewhere in between Rosenstein’s hall closet and the train platform at the New Rochelle station he commutes out of every morning, one of his gloves disappeared.

“I was just so pissed off, so I wrote this post ... and I made it sound very poetic,” he recalled. Prior to then he’d never been one to post much to Facebook, but this lost glove story got “a burst of reactions.” His circle of friends really related to it.

The next morning, a conductor made an announcement about a passenger leaving behind a tuna sandwich. So Rosenstein wrote another post, linking the forgotten sandwich to his lost glove.

That winter, he created a separate Facebook page for his daily train musings. Five years later, it’s garnered over 1,100 followers.

During his 28-minute commute each morning, Rosenstein takes to Facebook to chronicle what’s happening on his train. He said he embellishes their stories for entertainment purposes, and he’s created several characters that make regular appearances.

Over the years, Rosenstein said his posts have become more about the people he sees as opposed to his own life. He works to create a relatable, succinct and compelling narrative in a short amount of time, and construct a weekly story arc that’ll keep readers interested.

At the end of the day, though, he doesn’t care if anyone’s reading his stories.

“I really do it for my own creative outlet, really for my own amusement,” he said. “I’m a creative person by nature, and it just allows me to be creative and to stay sharp.”

This process has made his posts longer, too. For Rosenstein, if people are interested, they’ll stick with it regardless of length.

He decided that if each post couldn’t fit onto a phone screen, so be it. He said this is something that’s changed since he started his posting.

“Right now, I think people are open to reading something that’s a little bit longer, in the same way that podcasts are popular now,” he said. “People are into storytelling, and they like to hear things that are a little bit more in-depth rather than the quick sound byte.”

'Bobby derailed'

Bob McDonough has been a Metro-North conductor for the last three decades. His digital storytelling started in 2006 when, after reading a blog written by his nephew’s fiance, he decided to create one of his own.

McDonough initially used Blogger to post stories about his life on and off the rails as “Bobby Derailed,” from family stories to famous or notable passengers he’s encountered. As Facebook gained popularity, McDonough said its ability to give him instant gratification became attractive.

From 2010 onward he went from dozens of blog posts a year to only a few and began instead posting to his personal Facebook page. In 2015 he met Yale University’s glee club, and he posted a video of him “conducting” the group aboard his train. The video racked up more than 3 million views.

McDonough cited Facebook as one of the things that “killed” the Bobby Derailed blog, although he said that, once in awhile, a passenger will still recognize him.

“There’s a few people out here that still call me ‘Bobby blog,’ ” he said.

He plans to retire in a few years, and said that maybe he’ll start using the blog more often, this time as a travel blog.

Train-based social media

McDonough called the ever-increasing presence of social media “a blessing and a curse.”

He’s noticed he’s had to become increasingly careful about what he posts on his personal Facebook page as to not offend anyone. But, at the same time, he joked that when he’s conducting, “people are occupied with their phones and not breaking my chops as much.”

Some rail-riders in the Lower Hudson Valley are spending train time on their phones sharing their commute stories through Facebook groups. The Poughkeepsie Journal and lohud.com organized a group for area daily commuters in 2017, and the group now has over 200 members.

Participants can post whatever they please — as long as it abides by the Terms of Service – although, as group member Ray Mathew puts it, “there aren’t too many positive thoughts up there.”

“If we’re getting to the point where were getting to social media to talk about it, it’s probably because something negative is happening,” he said.

Mathew has been commuting into New York City from Cortlandt on the Hudson Line for about three years, and has been a part of the Facebook group since January. While he said there isn’t a lot of consistent activity in the group, he estimated its most active participants to be between the ages of 35 and 55.

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Ray Mathew is one of over 200 members in the Facebook group for daily Lower Hudson Valley commuters.(Photo: Colleen Ferguson/The Journal News)

He thinks the reason people post, usually about inconveniences, delays or some other negative aspect of their commuting experience, is primarily to raise awareness.

“It’s kind of tough when you’re paying almost $300 a month and the level of quality isn’t there,” he said about his fellow daily commuters. “We’re all kind of just hoping that if we say something, [the MTA] might do something about it.”

Matthew said that, for him, posting about things going wrong during his commute makes him feel better, sharing experiences and knowing that others have dealt with similar difficulties. For so many people, Mathew added, the trains are a big part of their daily lives.

Rosenstein agreed. Whether people of any age are commuting or sitting at home, he said, using social media to check in on what’s happening is a part of many daily routines.